Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with novel compositions and methods for therapeutic delivery of reparative cell populations in the treatment of soft tissue loss and disfigurement due to pathologic, traumatic, and aging-related processes. Scaffold-based biocompatible prosthetic grafts have been used with some success for restoring soft tissue loss. See e.g. Butler, C. E. The role of bioprosthetics in abdominal wall reconstruction. Clin. Plast. Surg. 33 (2006) 199-211. Despite the availability of biocompatible grafts, functional restoration of compromised tissues and organs presents an ongoing challenge in medicine.
Coinciding with advances in both materials-based and cell-based therapeutics for injectable soft tissue augmentation, advances in stem cell biology have provided potential tools for treatment in a variety of settings. In particular, findings that tissue regenerative stem cells can be obtained from adult tissues have made autologous transplantation a possibility. Following this, findings that stem cells can be obtained from tissues other than bone marrow have made autologous transplantation a practicable solution for treatment of other than the most dire conditions. Adipose tissue has emerged as a particularly desirable source of stem cells.
However, practical application of the above mentioned advances has heretofore been unavailable for various reasons to be explained in more detail in the context of the solutions provided herein.